<![CDATA["The History of Corn Processing as Food among the Community in Kuanfatu District, South Central Timor Regency." This study examines the history of the introduction of corn in Kuanfatu District, South Central Timor Regency, describes how corn is processed as a staple food, and analyzes the social and cultural meanings embedded in the tradition of corn processing. The research was conducted in Kusi Village, Kuanfatu District, East Nusa Tenggara Province, using the historical research method with a qualitative approach. Informants were selected through purposive sampling. Primary and secondary data were collected through interviews, non-participant observation, and documentation, and analyzed through heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The findings show that: (1) corn became known to the people of Kuanfatu after the arrival of Europeans, particularly the Portuguese, on Timor Island around the sixteenth century. Previously, the community depended on forest products and local crops such as cassava, taro, and yam. Corn was readily accepted and gradually became the staple food because it suits the region's dry land, yields abundant harvests, and can be stored for long periods; (2) the community continues to preserve traditional methods of processing corn into local foods, namely jagung bose, jagung katemak, jagung titi, and ut jagung, which have been passed down through generations; and (3) the tradition of corn processing carries important social and cultural meanings. Beyond producing food, it reflects values of togetherness, mutual cooperation, solidarity, local wisdom, and the transmission of traditional knowledge.]]>
